Thursday, May 1 2014 12:00PM to 8:00PM

You are invited to attend the Annual Charlotte Venture Challenge on Thursday, May 1, at the new PORTAL (beautiful building!). This is always a top notch event with great networking and the only business plan competition held in Charlotte. 

There is a discount code for BIG Members for 20% off the registration fee: CVC300. To register: http://charlotteventurechallenge.com/2014-competition/attend/

All details below. I hope you can join us!

38 Startups Compete in the Investor vs. Corporate Showdown

Keynote and Panelists Feature Four Corporate Innovation Leaders plus Founding Executives of Six Tech Companies including Red Hat

The Charlotte Venture Challenge (CVC) culminates with a finals competition and entrepreneurship conference in UNC Charlotte’s new PORTAL building on May 1, 2014. This year’s event features 38 startups competing to win cash prizes and includes an outstanding keynote speaker and panel discussions of interest to entrepreneurs, innovators, investors, and students.

The keynote address “Building a Billion Dollar Startup” will kick-off the event at 1:00 p.m. Manoj George, the founding CFO of Red Hat, Inc., and Phil Verghis, CEO and co-founder of Klever and an early executive at Akamai Technologies will share their compelling experiences building startups that grew rapidly and substantially. Mr. George managed the initial public offering of Red Hat and subsequently served as President of Art.com enabling its rapid growth and successful exit through sale to a competitor. Mr. Verghis managed global service delivery for Akamai, including 15,000 servers in over 2,000 data centers, until Akamai became profitable.

The keynote will be followed by a panel discussion “Getting Your First Corporate Customer”. A lively exchange is guaranteed as veteran entrepreneurs share their experiences. Panelists include Mike Weaver, currently CEO of Intrinsic Marks International and formerly the CEO and co-founder of Hand Held Products Inc. during its growth from home office to global business. He will be joined by Igor Jablokov, Entrepreneur-in-Residence for the Blackstone Entrepreneurial Network and formerly CEO and co-founder of Yap, a venture capital funded company that pioneered cloud-based speech recognition prior to being acquired by Amazon, Inc. Completing the panel will be Abhishek Mehta, the founder of predictive analytics software company Tresata and former Managing Director at Bank of America and Executive-in-Residence at MIT Media Lab.

The final panel, “Corporate Innovation: Partnering with Startups” will begin at 2:30. It will offer an insider’s view of how entrepreneurs and corporations find mutual benefit. Panelists include Jeff Gunther, Premier, Inc., Daniel Sondee, Ingersoll Rand, Inc., Jonathan Luster, Lowes, Inc., and Anjali Shah, Hewlett Packard.

The May 1 Charlotte Venture Challenge program is available for advance registration www.charlotteventurechallenge.com/attend. The registration fee of $125 includes admission to the keynote presentation, two panel discussions, 14 finalist pitches, 38 finalist companies showcase exhibition, and an early evening gala reception and awards ceremony.

The entire program will be in UNC Charlotte’s dramatic new PORTAL Building. Tours will be available during the reception. The program schedule is:

12:00-1:00          Check-in, onsite registration, and networking

1:00-1:45            Keynote: Building a Billion Dollar Startup

1:45-2:30            Panel: Getting Your First Corporate Customer

2:30-3:15            Panel: Corporate Innovation, Partnering with Startups

3:15-4:30            Top 14 Finalist Pitches

4:30-5:30            38 Finalist teams exhibition and People’s Choice Award voting

5:30-8:00            Reception and awards ceremony including food, beverages, and networking